Last Life
by Cat face
Summary: He was the Fourth and the apocalypse is nigh. Now they must watch on as their world falls apart at the seams. A songfic to The Whitlams, Last Life, hints of Hirota
1. Default Chapter

**Last Life**

A war

_I can't say that anyone's going to be alright_

Yamaki anxiously lit a cigarette, breathing deeply the bitter tobacco. His hands shook, not noticeably but he could feel it. His nerves were wrecked, his face cold and slicked with sweat. His breath came in long drawn shaky gasps. His shirt was untucked under his unbuttoned jacket.

"Sir it's approaching at an amazing speed. There's nothing we can do to stop it now." 

            He glanced fearfully up at the two women above his head. Chivalrously they sat and, with timeless ease, played an unknown rhapsody on the keyboards. In the dim light of the monitors they were seraphs, sent by God to bend under mans will. He could see sweat glistening on their faces. Why did they still follow his orders?

            "Keep the tracker locked on it, the last thing we want is to lose it."

            Reika nodded distractedly above him, soundlessly confirming her loyalty. Thoughtlessly he flicked the lid of his lighter open, then closed, with a soft click, click. Why did they still follow his orders?

            He removed his eyes from the somehow magnificent women above him and let them wonder to the endless wall of screens in which his fate was generated and bared to the room. About him workers ran and shouted; he failed to notice them. The gigantic monitor flashed with red and yellow and black and endless streams of data ran across his vision. 

            _Why did they still follow his orders?_

            "My God, it's growing!" The distressed scream of a woman's terror barely registered in his reeling mind. He had noticed before her.

            "What are you doing?" He demanded, his mind still frozen. His cigarette fell from his mouth, "For the love of God start the program!" 

            "But Sir, the system won't be able to take it.  If we start it up now there's no knowing what'll happen!" 

            "Do you defy me?" He bellowed flicking the lid of the cigarette lighter urgently; desperately trying, in his mind, to comprehend the situation.

            Around him sirens blared and lights flashed. He could have been drowning in the hectic environment, could have broken under the extreme pressure. Above him the women typed frantically with trained fingers; he could smell their fear and desperation. Around him workers ran, screamed, and panicked. The lighter clicked noiselessly beneath the chaos and a blank calm washed over him. 

            Without removing his eyes from the monitor her lit another cigarette and drew on it deeply. Somewhere in the recesses of his sub consciousness he fed on the panic. It was sensual and frightening like aphrodisiac. Deep in his sub consciousness he relished the chaos. Only in his conscious mind was he ravaged with fear and anxiety.   

            The command was given to start the program that would save or damn them.

            Why did they still follow his orders? 

            The sirens died, the lights dimmed. The workers stopped in their paths and all heads turned simultaneously towards the wall of monitors. He removed the cigarette from his lips and smirked in defiance at the monitors as if God had descended from the heavens, opened his mouth wide and beckoned him to enter. 

            "It worked." Above him Megumi whispered in detached amazement. They both sighed noticeably, their fingers still poised over the keyboards.

            He continued to flick the lid of his lighter; the soft _tink of metal against metal echoed off the surrounding walls and filled the otherwise silent room. The workers still stared, entranced by their unlikely victory. Yamaki turned towards the door and took another drag from his cigarette. He didn't leave, only stared at the mocking brightness of the outside. Tension was building._

            "What do we do with it now Sir?" The question touched a nerve; his heart skipped a beat and pounded loudly in his ears. 

            "Isolate it. I don't want this to happen again." He began to walk slowly, stiffly towards the door.

            The sirens began anew.

            "It's mutating! Good Lord it's growing again!"

            Yamaki didn't turn. He took another drag from his cigarette and lazily flicked the cigarette lighter lid. His heart still laboured beneath his skin and he was close to hyperventilation. On the outside he betrayed the raw stress and fear he felt just beneath the layer of his skin. Layers deeper still, so deep in his mind, he fed off the madness like a parasite. Anything could push him over the ledge he teetered dangerously on into complete insanity. He was so confused.  

With eyes clamped tightly shut he turned and listened to the madness. He knew what he would find if he opened his eyes: Fate, staring him in the face and mocking him with its untouchable, uncontrollable pandemonium.

            He opened his eyes. The monitors showed a play, ageless as time and senseless as lunacy. It was a war, literally, between data. One army: strong and ruthless, mindless. Red. The other: weak and restrained. Green. One monitor in the top corner flickered and went dead. Their power was being drained. 

            "It's taking over the hard drive! The systems becoming corrupted! There's nothing we can do!"

            "Reboot!" He yelled, his voice holding a note of hysteric bordering on madness.

            Inside, in those deep recesses, he remained calm. He flicked the lid of the lighter urgently. The chaos grew, his hand faltered, his mind worked sluggishly. He could feel himself crumbling over the disorder occurring around and within him. 

Pushing insanity aside for a moment, something occurred to him like déjà vu. Digimon. Carefully, as if pussyfooting around a sensitive subject, his mind recalled past events. Things came to him like fragments of dreams; he had seen their world in relation to this world. Something there had rotted and corrupted, that was the only solution.

            The monitors all went black simultaneously; the chaos, while never leaving the workers, faded into footsteps and strained shouts. Inside he fell apart like a badly made child's toy.

            "Sir, the system isn't restarting." Above him his seraph spoke, broken and emotionless, "The backup generator hasn't kicked in. We'll need to engage it manually."

            He nodded once and began to whistle an old tune he never remembered hearing. He could feel their distress, before either of them had a chance to speak he whispered one word then turned to leave.

            "Digimon." 

            The lights in the hall flickered and died. Around him darkness spread like a virus. The chaos was eating him up on the inside. He didn't know how to react. He took one last drag from his cigarette before throwing the butt on the ground and crushing it with his boot. 

            "What do they have to do with it?" He heard Reika call at his retreating back. 

            "Think," He whispered to himself, smiling wistfully, "reason, my sweet angel, what _do they have to do with it?"_

            _This is all your fault _

_            He flinched at the thought, but it brought him a twisted tranquillity. That much, at least, he could grasp. It was the only solid foundation in his mind. Indeed, this was all his fault. And indeed__ it could cause a lot of damage and cost a lot of money. The adrenaline was worth it though; his life was bland and meaningless without it. _

            The sane part of his mind grappled for an answer to his madness. So many things were at risk, the stakes were so painfully high. He was gambling with more than just petty computer parts. This situation could indeed affect more than just this building; no doubt it could end up on a world wide scale.

            _This isn't a game! _

            In his confused madness, he shrugged the responsibility off. He could handle it. If not he could always blame it on something out of anyone's control. The guilt would eat him up on the inside, indeed it had already started. If anything, however, he knew how to ignore those parasitic emotions that gnawed at his guts. It was only second nature to him now.  

            Before he felt the hand on his shoulder he heard the soft pitter patter of her leather soled shoes approaching. 

            "What do you think you're doing?" She asked forcing him to face her. He did, there were tears in her eyes, "Don't you know what this means?" She gestured to the darkness around them. 

Outside the building the streets were black as night. Car headlights flashed so far below them they turned into a sea of red and yellow fireflies. Apart from the half moon that hung dangerously in the starless sky they were the only lights. 

            "I know perfectly well what it means." He replied removing his shades from his face. Her burgundy eyes flashed dangerously and her lips thinned into betrayed hatred.

            "Enlighten me." She hissed

            He grabbed her upper arms and squeezed them tightly. She didn't flinch but more tears appeared in her eyes. He stared at her blankly for a moment before moving his mouth dangerously close to her ear and whispering:

            "I thought you would have figured that out by now."

            He felt her body tense, he could taste her rage. Instead of slapping him or struggling to release herself from his grasp she merely fell limp and let him wrap his arms around her. 

            "This is all your fault." She whispered clutching tightly on his jacket.

            "Is it?" He whispered back 

            "How can you deny it?" She said, her voice once again strong and commanding

            "_Think about it Reika, is it really my fault?"_

            She pulled away from him. Her face was porcelain white in the yellow moonlight. Her mouth hung slightly open and her eyes were wide. 

            "Digimon." She said slowly, testing the word

            "Exactly," He said, an insane smile pricking the corners of his lips, "Find the children."

            Reika opened her mouth wider, preparing to speak. He waited patiently; scanning her eyes for insubordination, there was none. She closed her mouth tightly and nodded fiercely. Behind her Megumi nodded in the same fashion, her eyes sparkling with determination, or was it fear?

            Why did they still follow his orders?  

            The lights returned and he squinted. Reika spun on her heel and started dramatically for the door in which Megumi stood.

            "Sir," She started nervously, her gloves were off and she was rubbing the palm of her left hand with the index finger of her right, "With all do respect, Sir, what can those children do about this problem? Even if this_ was a digimon, they're powerless to help. Their digimon partners aren't here anymore, there's no way to retrieve them."_

            Yamaki stared at her, for lack of better things to do. She was right, she was painfully right. The children may have _had power, but even then they wouldn't have succeeded without their digimon partners. Surprisingly his mind began to work unlike it had since the D-Reaper invasion. There were methods of retrieving them, there had to be. Their worlds were linked weren't they? Of course they were. There would surely be a way. _

            He began to laugh

            "Megumi you underestimate me." He chuckled flicking the lighter lid frantically, "Have a bit of faith."

            She stepped back slightly, surprise etched into her face. Yamaki continued laughing. She was right, they were doomed. She smiled heartily, nodded, and followed Reika into the dimly lit monitor room. 

The cigarette lighter lid broke off. 

Yamaki raised one hand to his face and silently, without tears, he wept for the end of humanity.

            Why did they still follow his orders?


	2. The Darkness

**Last Life**

The Darkness 

The battleground was set. The sun had sunken far enough behind the bustling city to cast ominous shadows over the two players. What small remnants of afternoon that remained were quickly fading into the green of twilight. Over their heads the moon hung, half concealed by shadow, and glowing a sickly pale yellow.

            A moderate breeze blew around them, causing the overhead wires to shake and wobble, like strings on a harp. But the wind touched neither of them. So absorbed in the battle they were, they noticed nothing of their surroundings, or the change that would soon occur. 

Kenta was sweating despite the cool winter air. With slightly shaken hands he pulled a card from his hand and placed it on the playing board. 

            "Angewoman's arrow." He stated raising his minty eyes to meet Hirokazu's. 

            Hirokazu smirked and Kenta groaned.

            "Is that the best you can do?" He asked mockingly raising one, thin eyebrow. His smile broadened.

            Kenta flinched noticeably as Hirokazu pulled a card from his hand and held it propped between his index and middle fingers. The way Kenta stared in that fear filled awe gave him a rush of adrenalin and power.

            "Let's see what you're future has to hold Kenta, dear." He said laying the card over another on the playing board, "DNA digivolution."

            "Oh come on, how is that possible?" Kenta jumped to his feet and threw his hand of cards on the board, "You can't do that."

            "Says who?" Hirokazu replied cocking his eyebrow again and wiping his side of the playing board free of cards.

            "You can't make them DNA digivolve! It just can't happen." Kenta argued stomping one foot on the ground while pounding his thighs with his fists to accent his argument.

            "It can and it has." Hirokazu replied calmly. He started shuffling his deck with his eyes closed, "Wake up and smell the bananas chumly, you lost."

            "Only because you cheated." Kenta sat down Indian-style on the floor, across the playing board from Hirokazu, and pouted. 

            "Want another game?" Hirokazu asked smiling as Kenta eyed him dangerously and muttered:

            "Not with you."

            Hirokazu shrugged and tipped Kenta's cards off the board before folding it up and throwing it on his bed. Kenta glared daggers at him and cleaned up his cards. 

Hirokazu couldn't resist smiling. As much as he hated seeing Kenta get all pouty and distraught over a card game, he loved the triumph that came whenever playing against him. He may have been a nerd but he knew nothing about strategy.

             They sat in relative silence for a few moments before Kenta started chuckling beneath his breath. Hirokazu considered him closely, he laughed harder. Unbeknownst to Kenta, Hirokazu's smile widened. Soon they were both red faced and laughing like madmen.

            The lights flickered and died but they both continued laughing until they were out of breath.

            "What happened to the lights?" Kenta panted. He was still visible against the window, where the remnants of twilight gave just enough light to see, but his face was completely shrouded in darkness.

            "I dunno." Hirokazu replied, wiping tears away from his eyes, "I'll go check the dining room.

            The whole house was out of power. They could hear the neighbours voicing their discontent, in particular the old man who was frequently drunk and always unpredictable. Hirokazu was afraid of him, Kenta was petrified.

            "Looks like the whole towns out." Kenta called to him from the balcony. 

            Kenta was close to understatement. Indeed the whole town had descended into darkness, every building for miles was black as night. The only light was from the street below where cars bleeped noisily and their headlights flashed like a sea of stars all fallen from heaven. 

            The man from next door wrenched the sliding door to the balcony open so fast it threatened to fall off its tracks. The old man shambled out onto the balcony and let a string of drunken curses fall from his lips. Despite the coolness of the air a rank smell reached their nostrils. A combination of alcohol, sweat and the putrid stench of poverty. Kenta's eyes widened and his hand found Hirokazu's shirt sleeve on which he tugged like a small child.

            "Lets go back inside and find a torch." He said softly, eyeing the man cautiously.

            Hirokazu nodded, took one last look over the balcony railing at the sea of headlights that lit the city as best they could, and let Kenta drag him into the apartment. 

            He hadn't realised how cold it was on the balcony until he was indoors again. It was also considerably darker indoors, Hirokazu shuddered. He wasn't afraid of the dark, not in a sense. He was more afraid of what had caused the darkness. The thought made him shudder again. He had a morbid imagination.

            Kenta seemed indifferent to the situation

            "Hirokazu, do you have a torch?" He asked, only narrowly avoiding the coffee table but tripping in the corner of the couch, "We can tell ghost stories."

            Again Hirokazu shuddered. Only one word came to his mind at the mention of ghost stories. Digimon. To his great surprise the thought scared and intrigued him. He hadn't seen a real digimon for almost a year now and his memory of them wasn't exactly homely. As much as he tried to prevent it every thought of digimon brought him inevitably back to one thing, one memory that stood out against the rest like neon lights. The D-Reaper.

            No matter how he denied it, he was more than petrified of it. For a week after the 'incident' he had flinched every time he saw red jelly. He was now, officially, feint hearted when it came to blood. There were good thoughts that he associated with digimon. Digimon cards, Guardramon, the digital word, all of those were good thoughts. There was only one horrible, gaping flaw. They all brought him hurling back to the D-Reaper.

            "I don't think we have one." He replied distractedly. Kenta groaned and managed to feel his way to the kitchen bench in the faint light the moon provided.

            "Candles?"

            "What do you take me for? I don't follow some strange cult. Who keeps candles in their house?" 

            Kenta sighed again and began picking at the broken bench top. They sat in a relatively uneventful silence for at least five minuets, though it felt a lot longer to Hirokazu. He still couldn't manage to get the D-Reaper out of his mind, or why it so incessantly haunted him. None of his friends seemed to be as affected by it as he was, not even Kenta, and he was practically scared of his own shadow. 

            Hirokazu jumped when the silence was broken by Kenta's cell phone. His heart went ballistic in his chest and his hands were instantly slicked with sweat. He was still jumpy. 

            "Hello?" Kenta answered his phone; it was probably just his parents. Hirokazu was positive this black out didn't just affect his district, "Takato?" Or not.

            "Who is it?" He asked. Kenta looked at him, or at least he thought he looked at him. The moonlight caught his glasses blocking his eyes from view. 

            "Who called you? Why?" Kenta's face turned as serious as stone in the blink of an eye. Hirokazu felt an ominous dread rise up in his gut, "You've got to be joking… you are joking right?"

            There was no doubt about it, Hirokazu was indefinably becoming worried. He hadn't seen Kenta that serious since he failed that math test, on account of he was studying digimon cards instead.  

            "…They're going to what? How? Why?"

            "Kenta, what's going on?" He couldn't keep it in any longer; the suspense was eating him up. However, Kenta didn't answer him, only nodded silently to the phone

            "Okay, we'll be there soon." He hung up, but didn't look at Hirokazu. Instead he took to staring blankly at the floor.

            "Kenta?" 

            "We have to meet Takato and the others in the park." A strange tone laced through his voice making his eyes, his whole demeanour, slightly hysteric. 

            "What's going on?" Hirokazu asked after a moment's silence. Kenta didn't answer at first, only shook his head faintly. His eyes brows were pinched slightly in the middle and his mouth turned down into a frown

            "I don't know." As soon as the words left his mouth he shook his head more vigorously and whatever vexation had plagued him vanished, "Come on, he said it was an emergency." 

            With a wave of his hand Kenta made his way hastily to the door. When Hirokazu didn't follow he became agitated.

            "Come on Hirokazu, it's an emergency.

            "What's an emergency?" Hirokazu asked, placing his hands on his hips and stubbornly remaining where he stood.

            "I'll tell you on the way, we have to go." The hysteria was back in his voice and he hopped from one foot to the other while holding the door to the apartment open.

            Hirokazu didn't have time to evaluate the situation, the frightened glint in Kenta's eyes and the way his hands shook slightly on the door handle compelled him to move. His thoughts were so jumbled as he left the apartment, ushered hastily be Kenta, that he forgot to lock the door. 

            "So what exactly is going on here?" He asked, feeling his way through the darkness to the stair case.

            "Takato didn't really give me that much detail but from what I can gather there's something wrong at Hypnose and they need our help."

            "Something wrong?" 

            "Yeah, don't ask me what it is because I'm about as clueless as you are." 

            Hirokazu felt a shiver involuntarily run down his spine at the thought of Hypnose. Like everything else from his past the mention of that particular organisation sent his mind reeling with memories of the D-Reaper. As they made their way stumbling down the stairs towards the exit he silently prayed to whatever god cared to listen that it hadn't returned. 


	3. What They Don't Know Won't Kill Them

What They Don't Know Won't Kill Them

Mindlessly, Yamaki removed a cigarette from the packed kept in his breast pocket and lit it. He had replaced his flip top lighter with a more conventional model, he pressed the button and the flame appeared. 

            "You know, those things will kill you." From behind him he heard Megumi speak. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw. He wished she wouldn't.

            "They have over sixty different chemicals in them, probably more, and all of them lethal."

            Slowly Yamaki turned around to face her. She looked ready to recite more useless facts about the chemical content of tobacco, but one look from him stopped her.

            "There are a lot of other things in this world that will kill you faster," He took a drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke in her face, "I'll chose how to kill myself."

            She coughed and waved her hands around her face in disgust. Reika walked up beside her and gave him a distasteful look

            "I really wish you wouldn't Mitsuo." She said softly shaking her head slightly.  
            Yamaki scoffed and turned his back on her. The children would be here any moment; he didn't need to start an argument with her about his health. 

            He heard Reika grumble and Megumi curse at his back; he focused his attention towards the darkness of the city. The few cars that passed the park gave inadequate light and his eyesight wasn't as good as it used to be. If the first child hadn't been carrying a torch he would have missed them completely. 

            "Takato." He nodded his greeting to the boy who, through the darkness and torchlight, looked younger and more vulnerable than ever. It was hard to believe they were handing such a burden over to such fragile creatures. 

            "Hi," He replied nervously, "Am I the first here?" 

            "Yes," Reika replied for Yamaki, kneeling down in front of the boy, "We should probably wait until everybody is here before we start. I don't think Yamaki would appreciate explaining everything twice." She glanced up and him, he moved his gaze back to the empty blackness.

            Until the second and third children arrived they stood in a generally uncomfortable silence. Takato played with his flashlight, flicking it on and off and pointing it towards the sky. Yamaki had to fight the urge to yell at him.

            "Lee, Koharu," Takato greeted the second and third children when they arrived, "You both made it."

            "Well of course, we're both digidestined." The small pink haired girl replied proudly. 

            "Of course we are." The taller boy said, patting the girl on the head. The resemblance she had to a dog was stunning. 

            "Has anyone else come yet?" Lee asked, turning his attention away from the girl to address Takato

            "No, but here comes Ruki." He pointed out into the blackness to an approaching, torch-less, figure. 

            The red head girl said nothing to address the other three children, or anyone else for that matter, only nodded once and leant up against a nearby pole. 

            "Nice to see you too Ruki," Takato called to her. She grunted and turned her face away.

            Yamaki was becoming impatient. He should just start right now, there was no need for the other children they weren't nearly as strong or important as the ones here now. He opened his mouth to speak when three more figures emerged from the darkness

            "Hey, are we late?" One of them called waving his hand

            "Nope, we haven't started yet." Takato replied as they approached

            "Well can we?" Ruki asked impatiently tapping her fingernails on the pole, "I have other, more important things, I could be doing right now."

            "Come on Ruki, surely we're not that bad to be around." One of the boys who had just appeared said

            "Then you seem to have underestimated how annoying you are, Ryo." She spat back, removing her weight from the pole and walking up to Yamaki, "Can we start now or did you just call us out here to look at us?" 

            Yamaki didn't answer, instead he began.

            "I have called you out here tonight in light of a certain situation regarding your digimon partners." Some of them looked ready to voice their concern, he hastily continued before they could speak, "We are running an experiment that involves testing data which can only be found in digimon. In theory, it is possible to breach the barriers keeping our world from the digital world. It is most important that we acquire some digimon samples, but obtaining wild digimon is a difficult task. We require you and your digimon's cooperation in order to attain the data necessary."

            For moments after his speech they were plunged into silence. He could feel Reika and Megumi's eyes boring into his back. The children stood in a dumbstruck silence, and stared. 

            "Wait, wait, hold up a second." One of the children, the one with the visor, started, "You're saying, you want to run experiments on our digimon? _Our digimon?"_

            "That's precisely what I'm saying." Yamaki replied

            "And what, pray tell, will you be doing with this data?" He continued boldly making wild hand gestured to accent his question

            "We will be examining it," Yamaki replied simply. This seemed to infuriate the boy.

            "Oh, I get it now, you want to hook them up to some computer and drain the life out of them? How stupid do you think we are buddy? If I recall correctly it was you who was trying to destroy all digimon. What makes you think we'll just hand them on over to you?"

            "Wait, Hirokazu, don't go jumping to conclusions here," Lee interrupted him, "In the past they may have wanted to destroy digimon but in the end whose side were they on?"

            "What I'd like to know," Ruki started coolly, "Is exactly what kind of experiments you're running." 

            "I am not at liberty to release any information about them at this time. Once we have your complete cooperation we will give you details."

            "Okay, so want our cooperation doing what? If you can get to the digital world by yourself what do you need us for?" Takato asked; the rest of the children nodded along with him. 

            "We need you're cooperation in order to locate the digimon. If I recall correctly those devices you used allowed you to trace any digimon movement in a certain radius."

            "You mean our digivices?" 

            "Precisely." 

            "Okay, so you want our digivices, why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Hirokazu asked sceptically, "Sounds to me like he's hiding something."

            "Don't be so cynical Hirokazu; it doesn't sound that bad to me." A short boy with glasses said, placing his hand on Hirokazu's shoulder.

            "But the question is; what are you going to use this data for?" Ryo asked, cocking one slender eyebrow 

            "Again I am not at liberty to say until I have your complete cooperation."           

            The children fell silent. A few of them made eye contact, silently discussing the matter with each other. During this silence Reika placed her hand on his shoulder and, as quite at possible, asked

            "What on earth are you doing Yamaki?"

            He shrugged her off and took one step closer to the children

            "Do I have your cooperation?"

            The children didn't reply, the only one who seemed to notice he had spoken was Ruki. She regarded him closely, as if she was calculating just how much he could be trusted. Suddenly, with little to no emotion in her voice, she asked

            "Why are all the lights out?"

            The question caught Yamaki off guard, unwanted memories and guilt rose up in his gut. Hurriedly he shook them off and turned to face the girls scrutinising eyes

            "How should I know?"

            She grunted and turned her attention away. At that moment the children seemed to reach their conclusion, silently.

            "Okay, we'll cooperate, but we want a complete explanation." Takao said for the whole group, the other children nodded silently.

            "You can count me out." Ruki said turning her back to the group, before she could retreat into the darkness Ryo addressed her

            "Why are you running away Ruki?"

            His voice stopped her and the muscles in her shoulders tensed. She turned back to him and the light from Takato's torch caught her eyes making them glow ferally. Her voice was venom.

            "I'm not running, Ryo. Unlike the rest of you I'm not stupid enough to trust a spider." She didn't spare Yamaki or any of the other children a glance before turning away and disappearing beyond the torch's radius

            "Why does she always have to rain on our parade?" Hirokazu asked, poking his tongue out to the empty blackness Ruki had just vanished into.

            It was true the girl wasn't exactly a liability; things would be a lot more difficult without her. However, She would come too eventually, Yamaki was sure of that. Once she discovered the truth she'd be begging to join them. He shrugged off her insubordination and turned his attention to the remaining children.

            "Be at the building tomorrow morning, you will have your explanation then." He said simply, ignoring the questions pending on the end of the children's tongues. Before they could voice any of them he turned, flanked by the two women, and retreated out of the park.

            When she was sure they were out of earshot of the children Megumi exploded in a rush of accusations and questions. Only one Yamaki had the patience to answer

            "What on earth are you thinking? Why didn't you just tell them the truth? You would have had their complete, undivided collaboration had you just told them what was really happening. Don't you get it, we're on the verge of apocalypse here, they're our only hope, why the bloody hell did you go lying to them?" 

            "Had I told them the truth, it would have gotten out. Children can't keep their mouths shut no matter how much you bribe them. The last thing we need is panic." He smiled in spite of himself, "Plus, what they don't know won't kill them."


	4. Act One

Act One

_I can't say that anything is going to be alright,_

_I'll lie here and look at you on my side_

When Hirokazu awoke the next morning the city was in a state of chaos. His front door stood wide open and Kenta was sleeping peacefully next to him on his parents queen sized bed. He was oblivious to all of them. Only two things occupied his mind at that particular moment; how sore his eyes were and how dry his mouth was.

            It would have been nice to do something about them, but the grogginess associated with waking prevented his limbs from moving. He could only lay there and stare at the bedside clock, which remained blissfully blank. The power was still out and his parent's weren't home. 

            Somewhere on the streets below people were yelling, no doubt it had some connection with the lack of power. Beside him Kenta groaned and turned over, pulling the blankets off Hirokazu. He shivered and cursed under his breath. The air outside the blankets was freezing, freezing enough to get him out of bed and take him to the kitchen. 

            At the bottom of the refrigerator he was greeted with a large puddle of icy water. He tried his best to ignore it as he drank the half cold water from the jug. Despite the lack of cold in the fridge, the water was cold enough to remind him he was standing in a puddle. He wasn't ready to mop it up just yet; he'd wait until Kenta woke up and, hopefully, stood in it.  

            The clock on the wall told him it was 7:30am, a lot earlier than he usually woke up. He was tempted to wake up Kenta just for the sake of annoying him, but thought better of him. Kenta was kind and mellow by nature, but he certainly wasn't a morning person. If Hirokazu knew anything about him, it was not to wake him up at 7:30am. 

            Instead he plopped himself down on the couch and rediscovered the fact that when the power was out the TV didn't work. Out of boredom he surveyed the apartment, making sure nothing out of the ordinary had happened since the power was out. It was then he noticed the front door. 

            Involuntarily his heartbeat sped up in his chest. He was sure he had at least closed it last night; he wasn't so sure about locking it. Biting down his fear he stood up and walked over to close it. The hallway of the apartment complex was as indiscreet as it had ever been. All the doors shut, the off while coloured wallpaper peeling slightly at the corners and the ugly, brown stain near room 3B that reminded Hirokazu eerily of blood.

            Gingerly he closed the door and hastily surveyed the apartment once again. There was no sign of an intruder, nothing was missing; at least, nothing big. Breathing deeply he returned to his parents room where Kenta sill lay, snoring slightly and tangled in a mess of blankets. Without thought to the consequences Hirokazu knelt down on the carpet next to Kenta and began shaking him. 

            "Kenta?" He whispered, hoping not to startle the boy out of sleep, "Kenta wake up."

            Kenta only groaned and turned over in response. However, Hirokazu's spirit wouldn't be dampened that easily. He vaulted himself over Kenta so he sat on the other side of the bed and continued shaking his shoulders.

            "Come on," He said, louder than necessary, "you can't sleep forever." 

            That seemed to catch Kenta's attention, he groaned and his eyes slid open slightly. As soon as they were open, however, he shut them tightly and pulled the covers over his head.

            "Oh come on, I know you're awake under there Kenta, get up." Hirokazu accented his argument by punching the lump that was Kenta.

            After a few moments Kenta threw the covers off himself and glared up at Hirokazu

            "I hate you." He mumbled, his voice cracked and dry

            "Whatever, Kenta, do you remember me closing the door last night?" 

            For a moment Kenta stared at him as if he had never seen him before. Slowly, his eyes focused behind his glasses (which he had been wearing all night) and he blinked owlishly before answering

            "How should I know?"

            "Come one Kenta, try to remember." Hirokazu pleaded 

            "What does it matter?" Kenta sat up, his eyes became serious

            "Because when I woke up this morning it was wide open and I don't remember leaving it open last night."

            "Was anything taken?"

            "Not that I could see but…" Hirokazu trailed off seeing the cynicism in Kenta's eyes

            "If nothing's missing then what are you worrying about? You probably just left it open anyway. We both know how absent minded you can be."

            Kenta's confidence didn't help calm Hirokazu's nerves one bit, but he decided to drop the subject seeing as Kenta had already begun to make himself comfortable under the blankets once again.

            "My parents still aren't home you know," Hirokazu started thoughtfully, pulling some of the blanket over his knees, "They said they would be home last night."

            Kenta didn't answer, but he wasn't asleep. He stared up at the ceiling blankly.

            "You better get up soon," Hirokazu added, "We have to be at the Hypnose building soon." 

            Again Kenta didn't answer, only nodded and asked

            "Why do you reckon the power's been out so long?" He removed his gaze from the ceiling to meet Hirokazu's. His eyes held no emotion, which reflected on the pale skin of his face. He looked so small beneath the mess of blankets, too small. Hirokazu couldn't suppress the feeling of foreboding that swelled up in his chest. He was worried, but not for himself, for Kenta. Something big was going to happen, something unstoppable. There was no doubt in his mind the loss of power had something to do with it. 

            "I don't know." He replied with a shrug. 

He removed his eyes from Kenta's; he couldn't bear looking at them anymore. He had hoped that if he broke eye contact the feeling would die down, how mistaken he was. Instead, it increased. He could feel Kenta's eyes bore into his back, stinging his spine.

"You should get up now; we have to be there pretty early." He muttered hastily climbing out of the bed and, without making eye contact, left.

             The trip to the Hypnose building passed uneventfully and quietly. The gnawing feeling in Hirokazu's gut only became worse as they continued and flared almost to the point of pain when he made eye contact with Kenta. By the time they reached the building he was almost positive the reason they were called here wasn't simply to collect data. At a time of crisis like this the Hypnose workers would probably be more suited to finding out what exactly was causing the blackout.

            "The process we use the breach the barrier separating the two worlds is a relatively simple one. Along the barrier are certain weak points, points of influence; from these points hackers can easily break holes, eventually forming one hole large enough for a probe to be sent through. With this probe we have located certain points in the digital world where data is clustered, like cities; this is where we believe your digimon partners to be. We cannot be one hundred percent sure of the behaviour of digimon, but these seem the most likely places to start."

            As soon as everyone had arrived at the Hypnose building (excluding Ruki) Yamaki had instantly launched into a full explanation of the process involved in finding their partners,

            "In order to locate one specific digimon, your digimon partners to be precise, we require the aid of your digivices. We will hook them up to a computer and use the personal tracking device installed in them to pinpoint the exact coordinates you're digimon are at. From this stage we will send a retrieval vessel not unlike the ark, to fetch them." 

            "Well that's all well and good but the question is what are you going to do with our digimon once you have them?" Hirokazu asked testily.

            The feeling of apprehension that had earlier plagued him was now nothing more than a mere prickling at the back of his mind, but he still wasn't quite ready to start trusting them. No matter how innocent it all sounded he _knew there were ulterior motives to Yamaki's plan. _

            "It's quite simple," Yamaki started, staring at Hirokazu. Hirokazu met his gaze and folded his arms across his chest, "We will test each of them separately, and note the testing will not harm them in any way. Once we have collected the necessary data you may do with them what you wish."  

            The room fell silent. It was all too simple, that was all Hirokazu could think in response to Yamaki's proposition. The whole thing sounded so unrealistic. Why, if they only wanted to collect data, had they called them out to the park at 9:30pm last night to discuss it? Surely it couldn't be that important. And why, at a time like this when the power was out and the city was in chaos, were they collecting data?

            "What are you using this data for?" Ryo asked the question Hirokazu had been thinking

            "It is for a recent experiment we have been conducting on the differences between digimon and human DNA." 

            Again silence fell, Hirokazu met Kenta's eyes and Kenta nodded silently. He was going to agree and no doubt there was nothing he could do to stop him. He flicked his eyes over to Takato, who met them and nodded. They were all willing; they were all ready to trust him when it was so blatantly obvious there was more to his story than just that. Or maybe he was just being paranoid. 

            Before he had a chance to voice his mistrust Takato answered for them.

            "Okay, you have our cooperation, what do we have to do?"

            Hirokazu wanted to shout, wanted to stop them all from walking into this with their eyes closed. And he would have, if it weren't for that one miniscule possibility that plagued him. _Maybe he was just being paranoid_

            "A wise choice, follow me." Yamaki led them out of the stark white room they had been situated in, into a brightly lit corridor. From his vantage point next to a wall of windows that looked out over the pandemonium that was now their city, Hirokazu could tell they were at least ten floors up. Still, Yamaki led them straight towards the elevator. Once inside he swiped a key card and punched a code into a key pad near the buttons next to the elevator door. Once finished he pushed the highest numbered button possible, 57. 

            The ride up was both silent and unpleasant. The plain metal walls of the elevator didn't do much to lighten the mood, only created an atmosphere of entrapment. Hirokazu had never been claustrophobic but he was beginning to feel what it was like to be so. When they reached the top floor he could tell he wasn't the only one glad to be out of the elevator. 

            Without addressing them Yamaki continued onwards down the only passage open to them. A wide, brightly lit corridor, not unlike the one on the other floors, that led straight to a room filled with monitors. 

            Every monitor, except for one in the top corner, combined to make one huge map on which different coloured dots flashed and moved. On two levitated chairs the woman who had accompanied Yamaki last night sat and typed on small keyboards. Around the room were various panels with buttons and strange machines, people moved and talked casually adding an eerily ordinary atmosphere to the room.

            If anything, however, the room looked like a lab, too much like a lab for Hirokazu likes. Maybe he really _was paranoid; maybe Yamaki really was telling them the truth. Or maybe this was just a big act. _

Amidst his confusion he heard Yamaki talking, but only one sentence registered in his mind:

            "This could very well determine the fate of humankind."

**

            AN: for Nataku, my one and only reviewer: yes there will be more relationships in this story, a _whole lot__ more relationships ^_^_


	5. Act Two

Act Two

_I can't say that anything is going to be alright_

_I lie here and look at you on my side_

_Wait for night to let the earth turn_

_And not take anymore_

The stage was set; everything had gone according to plan. The children were here, they'd brought their digivices, and it hadn't broken out of its confinement yet. Yamaki hoped it wouldn't anytime soon. Timing was everything and if it didn't agree… he didn't want to think of the consequences.

            He could feel the distrust of the children, especially the one called Hirokazu. Every time that child looked at him the something resembling guilt rose up and threatened to disarm him. However, no matter how guilty or responsible he felt, there was no one else to carry out these tasks. He was the only one, if he failed everything fell. Logically he should have been crushed under the pressure of it all, but he was never one for logic.

            He had had several reports of the crisis the city appeared to be in, the power had been out for almost fifteen hours now and people were becoming hysteric. The backup generators could last them at least another day, after that the children would have to fend for themselves. To think, one simple virus could cause so much damage. Yamaki was sure not even a nuclear bomb had this much potential to cause destruction. So many lives were riding on his back, on those six children's backs. One wrong move and it could wipe out an entire nation. 

            Yamaki, however, was not one to think of the consequences of such actions. Instead he focused his attention on the wall of monitors on which the map of the digital world was displayed. At this very moment his technicians were hooking the children's digivices up to the main hard drive. They wouldn't have to hold on for too much longer now, a few minuets was all it had to take. From then on it was smooth sailing; everything was in their young, experienced hands. 

             "Sir, digivices one through six have been uploaded to the hard drive, tracking has begun."

            Yamaki nodded up at Reika who was too absorbed in her search to notice. 

            On the screen six multicoloured dots began to flash, the digimon had been located. Everything was going according to plan. 

            "You found them! Look Lee, they found them!" The small girl bounced next to her brother excitedly, pointing her miniature finger towards the towering wall of monitors. So small, so young, so innocent; did she have any idea the fate of humanity rested on her shoulders? Of course not.

            "Begin preparations to send the retrieval unit," He stated calmly to the bustling room, "There is no time to waste." 

            Immediately several workers began fussing over a single computer. Technicians, computer nerds, coffee woman, all began moving and talking at once; the sound was strangely calming. In mere minuets the retrieval vessel would be sent into the digital world and the digimon recovered. The burden would be shifted and he would be no more than an idle watcher; the responsibility no more his. 

            "How much longer do you think this is going to take?" Hirokazu asked his bespectacled friend, "I'm starting to get hungry."

            Yamaki felt like laughing at these children's innocence. He should have felt guilty at handing such a burden over to such delicate creatures; that would have been the human thing to do. But he wasn't, if anything he was guilty about the fact that he wasn't guilty for placing the blame onto something so helpless as a group of children. Even then the guilt was completely nondescript; there was no emotion behind it, only duty.

            "Preparations complete, beginning transfer of retrieval vessel." Megumi said from somewhere above him.

            Involuntarily his eyes flicked to the single, blank monitor in the top corner. It was still contained and he hoped it stayed that way until the digimon arrived. It certainly wouldn't be any good if it escaped at a time as crucial as this. Just the thought of what havoc it could cause; what possibilities lay open made Yamaki shudder. He couldn't forget, until the digimon arrived it was completely his responsibility. 

            "Retrieval vessel had breached the barrier, beginning retrieval." Reika stated distractedly

            A few more minuets, that's all it would take. If they just held out for a few more minuets everything would be just fine.

            Yamaki wiped his brow and his hand returned drenched in sweat. The pressure was getting to him, and with pressure came exhilaration. A small, rueful smile pricked at the corners of his mouth. Indeed, it was a sweet as he remembered; the stress, the possibilities, the responsibility but more importantly the adrenaline. 

            His mother would be ashamed to know he got his jollies out of the possible genocide of the human race, but his mother had been a boring woman. 

            "Digimon two and three located, entering retrieval vessel." 

            They were falling behind schedule. 

            Again his eyes flicked towards the black monitor, no signs of change were evident. Just a few more minuets

            "Digimon one and four located, entering retrieval vessel." 

            Not much longer now, not much longer at all

            "Digimon five and six located, entering retrieval vessel. Retrieval complete; beginning return."

            And there you have it ladies and gentlemen; the fate of the human race now lies solely in the hands of a group of six children. How do you feel?

            Slowly Yamaki let his hands, which had at some point bunched themselves into painful fists, relax. His breathing returned to normal, his heart rate slowed, the adrenaline slowly ebbed away. The fun was over, the potential threat almost non existent. All that remained was the battles but that was a completely different story.

            "Is there a cafeteria around here somewhere?" Yamaki turned his attention to Hirokazu. What a childish question but one could never be too prepared to fight for humanity. 

            "Yes, you may break now. Kitsugiri," Yamaki waved one of the coffee women over, "show these children to the cafeteria,"

            Kitsugiri nodded and began leading the children out of the room, or she would have if she, and the children, hadn't been distracted by the deafening blare of the first siren. In a moment the screen changed from the agonisingly slow plodding of the retrieval unit to a warning that filled the whole wall of monitors. 

            "**_Deleting"_****__**

            "It's out!" He vaguely heard Reika scream from above him, "Oh my god it's deleting the hard drive!"

            "It's breaching the barrier! It's entering our world!"

            After that Yamaki heard nothing, only a slight ringing in his ears and the sound of blood rushing at a painful speed around his body. It was out; there was nothing that could be done. He had had his top, very top IT men working tirelessly to contain it. There was no doubt they knew the consequences of letting something like this out, they probably knew better than him. They couldn't be blamed, only he could.

            In an instant the warning screen flicked back to the map. The sirens still blared and the workers still screamed; the worst hadn't even begun. Now, however, instead of the retrieval unit, _It had displayed itself as it casually penetrated the hole meant for the retrieval unit. She hadn't lied; it was indeed invading their world._

            Silently, Yamaki scoffed to himself; it sounded like a badly written horror movie. Invasion of the Killer Computer Virus; maybe that was it, though, maybe this was all just a dream. Things like this never happened in real life, did they?

            "What happened to the digimon?" He heard himself ask, his voice was loud, angry and laced with hysteria. 

            It really was a dream; at least, he saw it like a dream. Himself, in the middle of a crisis laughing like a madman at the infortune of his life, did this make him crazy? A voice, so young yet so real brought him out of his madness back to reality. Hirokazu was yelling at him. No, not yelling, screaming like the child he was.

            "What the fuck is going on here?"

            "It's broken through its bindings, its coming." He replied simply, calmly. How could he still remain so composed through something like this? He had single handily brought the downfall of humanity, what should someone feel at a time like this?

            "What's broken through, what's coming?" The boy's voice was no longer demanding, only scared. Yamaki looked down at him and saw him for the very first time. 

            The boy was relatively tall for his age, but the way he cowered, the way his frame shook with fear made him seem so much shorter. His eyes were filled to the brim with fear, laced with tears and pleading. If there was a definition of fear he was it. 

            That was when it came, the guilt. Never in his life had he felt something so powerful, so all-consuming. It rose up and fell on him like a tsunami, almost crushing him with its weight. If he hadn't been paralysed by it he would have fallen to his knees and begged the boy for forgiveness. But how could he be forgiven, how could they, the world, forgive him for bringing them the apocalypse? Murders and rapists and thugs surely couldn't feel half of what he felt at the moment. Complete, utter, helpless, guilt.

            "_It's not coming is it?" The boy asked in the smallest, mortally frightened voice._

            "What?" Yamaki asked out of habit. He had an idea of what the boy was going to say

            "The D-Reaper." 

            "No…" Yamaki started, but stopped himself. It really was the D-Reaper all over again, wasn't it? "It's…"

            "It's what?" The boy pleaded his eyes growing larger and more fear filled by the minuet

            "A virus." 

            "I knew it!" The boy exploded in a wave of tears and fear and anger, "I knew you lied, why would anyway want to collect data at a time like this? What sense does it make? You wanted us to destroy it! We were the only ones who could repent for you weren't we?" He stopped for a moment to wipe his eyes dry, his fear had been replaced by a rage so defined Yamaki could smell it resinating off the boy, "Why did you lie to us? Why didn't you just tell us what was coming? We could have prepared, we could have warned others. What do you expect us to do now? For all we know our digimon have been destroyed and that, that _thing is coming and there's nothing you or anyone else can do. For Christ's sake we could have had a chance to say goodbye to our families before they were destroyed by__ you and that… __thing." _

            The short green haired boy whose name Yamaki had never taken the time to remember came up behind Hirokazu and placed his hand on his shoulder. His face was neutral, hidden behind his thick glasses. To Hirokazu he whispered

            "Hiro, please, calm down. I'm sure everything will be okay, we don't know our digimon are really gone, they could still be coming."

            Hirokazu didn't answer him, only clenched his fists at his side and glared hatred at Yamaki which threatened to burn holes in his own eyes.

            "Guys," Hirokazu was interrupted by a yell from one of the other children, who had left the room and was now standing watch at the wall of windows next to the corridor which gave a stunning view of the city, "its coming!"

            Hirokazu was led over to the other children, leaving Yamaki numb and speechless. Everything Hirokazu had said was right, it was his entire fault. Because of him countless people would be killed, families destroyed; cities, nations desecrated. Reika walked up beside him, but he was dumb and deaf to anything that happened around him anymore. Guilt was the strongest emotion he had ever felt; at it had rendered him useless.

            He was The Fourth and the apocalypse was nigh.


	6. Last Life

Last Life

_I must have been alright in the last life_

_To be lying here with you_

_Someone in the last life_

_To get this second chance with you_

From out of the sky it came, like an angel sent by god to destroy mankind. Only it wasn't an angel, and it was sent by Yamaki; but it would destroy them, Hirokazu was sure. And when he had wished, prayed, for the D-Reaper not to return, the gods had looked upon that prayer with scorn. He must have done something terrible for them send his worst nightmare after him.

            Beside him Kenta shook, but no more than he did. The mere sight of it caused them all to stare helplessly, white faced and wide eyed. But there was hope there, at least Hirokazu hoped; scanned the midnight depths of their doom for signs of digimon, signs of any life at all. But his hope was in vain; once the portal had closed and the black of sickness and death began to spread and engulf the city, Hirokazu's heart broke. Chances of their digimon making it through that: Zero

            The sun was at high noon when it entered their world, but it seemed to leech the life out of everything, including the sky; an unprecedented darkness washed over the city, the sun lost its shine. Takato's face was pushed up against the glass of the window and tears ran down his red stained cheeks. Softly he whispered for Guilmon, but he was only met with silence. 

            Lee held Koharu's hand so tight the girl seemed to be in pain, or she should have had the virus not dominated her every thought. She whimpered softly, knowing but not quite understanding the life-threatening consequences associated with the midnight that slowly swallowed their city. It seemed almost unfair that she should die so young and innocent; did _he even feel any guilt at all?_

              Ryo had begun making his way to the elevator, he looked neither afraid, worried nor sad at the concept of apocalypse; only determination shone in his eyes and spread through his body. He looked every bit determined to fight the virus single handily. Hirokazu envied him and his determination, but also pitied his desire for death.

            Kenta, Hirokazu only wished he had enough space in his head to think of everything he would miss about Kenta. Hirokazu had never in his life had a friend quite like Kenta; someone who understood him inside and out and accepted all of him, even the obnoxious, pig-headed, loud-mouthed Hirokazu. If only he had the worlds to thank him for being the one and only best friend, the one and only who knew how to lighten up and have fun when it really mattered (and when it didn't) for being the one and only who he could relate to, even if they had so many differences. If only he had the capacity to feel all the things he wanted towards the one and only who made his life real. 

             Without thinking of the consequences Hirokazu reached his shaking hand out and took Kenta's. The simple touch made his shaking slowly die down but his attention didn't waver from the slowly disappearing city below. Mellifluously, so soft only Hirokazu could hear him, he whispered

            "I don't want to die."

            The simple sentence pulled Hirokazu's heartstrings like a puppeteer and his marionette. Kenta whimpered softly and large fat tears rolled down his cheeks, Hirokazu couldn't bare it. He wanted to cry, not for himself, for Kenta and his despair; but the tears didn't come. Instead he offered the only comfort he could and squeezed Kenta's hand tighter.

            "Come on," Lee said as he began towards the elevator, pulling a sobbing Koharu behind him, "Let's go home."

               Gently, Hirokazu pulled Kenta's hand and led him towards the elevator. He was going to take Kenta back to his family, then find out if his parent's were back yet. He hadn't seen them for almost three days now, he wondered if they were dead. 

            In the elevator Kenta wrestled his hand free of Hirokazu's and rubbed it as if it had been burned, but he didn't look mad only thoughtful. Lee politely ignored the scene which Hirokazu was glad for. Afterwards the small box filled with unwanted tension, neither wanting to meet each other's eyes. The ride down seemed so much longer than the ride up. 

            When they reached the bottom the whole building was empty and silent. Just outside the door the black sea of virus could be seen. They would be lucky to get out without getting sucked inside, and the building would be lucky to stay standing for more than a few minuets with the rate of consumption of the virus. 

            "There should be a fire exit out the back," Lee said, taking Koharu's hand once again and beckoning them to follow.

            Lee had been right, there was a fire exit and it was blissfully unblocked. It led to a narrow ally between the Hypnose building and a similar one, one end was blocked by the virus and the other by a wall. Lee groaned and, without warning, began heading straight towards it.

            "Lee what are you doing? That thing will eat you up if you get too close to it. Don't you remember the D-Reaper?" Hirokazu warned, but Lee was beyond reach, he marched headlong into it.

            "Lee…" Kenta whispered watching with horror filled eyes as Lee marched his sister and himself into their doom. Koharu didn't seem to know what was happening to her, she didn't struggle or scream, just silently accepted her fate with tears. 

            As soon as he reached the end of the ally, Lee disappeared around the corner. Hirokazu was tempted to follow but at some time during the process Kenta had grabbed his arm and was squeezing it as tight as he could. Gently Hirokazu pried Kenta's fingers off his forearm and slowly led him towards the end of the ally.

            "Hiro, please," He whimpered, "I don't want to go."

            Hirokazu stopped, turned and stared at Kenta as tears ran unchecked down his cheeks. He wanted to stop, to please Kenta but he also wanted to continue, get Kenta back where it was safe. He couldn't bear to see him whimper and plead but he couldn't bear to see him curled up at the end of the ally waiting for death to overwhelm him. There weren't many options left open to him. Screwing up his fear, his compassion and turning his gaze away from Kenta he grabbed the boy's hands and pulled him past the edge of the ally onto the sidewalk. 

            Kenta cringed obviously when he was forced out of the relative safety of the ally, but after moments of neither dying nor any mind bending pain he slit his eyes open behind his thick lenses and witnessed the horrifying blob that was the virus. It sat only a few feet in front of them, just past the side walk on the road; large, black and ominous Hirokazu felt Kenta squeeze his hand tighter at the sight of it.

            Shaking the fear out of his mind Hirokazu boldly led Kenta along the sidewalk, staying as close to the buildings as possible. After only moments of walking Kenta's steps began to falter and he began depending on Hirokazu more and more. Only two blocks away from the Hypnose building he threatened to collapse. Hirokazu also began to totter on his feet, being near the virus hurt him physically and mentally more than anything he had felt before, but it had rendered Kenta almost unconscious. Not only did it suck the life out of the sky, it sucked the life out of them as well.

            Spotting a subway nearby Hirokazu headed for it. They should be relatively safe there as far as safety went when catastrophe was on their heels. Practically carrying Kenta he made a beeline for it, they could rest there for a while until Kenta regained his strength. 

            The subway was dark, darker than Hirokazu thought possible for the middle of the day. From what he could see he led Kenta over to a bench and sat him down on it. He sighed and his head lolled back against the wall behind the bench. Hirokazu sank into the bench beside Kenta.

            "Hiro," Kenta started weakly after moments of silence on both their parts

            "Yeah Kenta?" Hirokazu prompted him lifting his head slightly to look at Kenta's outline

            "Hiro, I just wanted to say…" He trailed off, his hand slowly creeping over to grasp Hirokazu's, "Thank you." 

            Hirokazu felt hot tears begin to prick at the corners of his eyes. He didn't want to loose Kenta, not even in death. Beside him Kenta sniffed back sobs but continued

            "You know, I was so lonely until I met you Hiro, I don't think there are enough words in the whole world to tell you how grateful I am. When I first met you it was like I had known you for eternity, I never needed any other friends because I had you. Hiro, I must have done something great in the last life to get a second chance with you …" Kenta squeezed his hand tighter and Hirokazu blinked his tears back. 

            "Thank you Kenta," He whispered, unable to think of any other words suitable for what he felt inside.

            They fell into silence. Kenta's sobs slowly diminished and his breathing became heavy, he must have fallen asleep. Hirokazu, too, drifted in and out of sleep at intervals. Time was useless in the darkness of the subway but when Hirokazu awoke for the fourth time he estimated they'd been there at least three or four hours. He wasn't ready to leave, at least not without Kenta with him. He knew what would await them at the top of the stairs, midnight black and death.

            A loud bang sounded and shook the walls; Kenta awoke with a small scream and immediately clung to Hirokazu like a child. 

            "What was that?" He asked, his voice shaking noticeably, his hands were cold on Hirokazu's arm.

            Hirokazu shook his head and slowly climbed to his feet. His legs were still weak but he felt strong enough to walk, Kenta must have recuperated as well because he was at Hirokazu's side in an instant. 

            "You're not going out there are you?" Kenta asked meekly, knowing the answer as soon as he had asked the question. 

Hirokazu didn't reply, he pulled himself away from Kenta and began walking towards the exit. Kenta started to follow, but Hirokazu stopped him

            "I'll go see, you stay here." 

            "But Hiro…" He started then trailed off into silence. Hirokazu was stubborn, however, and no matter how much Kenta argued there was no way he was changing his mind. He wasn't about to sacrifice his best friend for his curiosity.

            He continued on, feeling his way through the darkness until he reached the stairs. A small fragment of light filtered through from the exit, leading Hirokazu unharmed to the surface. What he beheld when he reached the city was beyond words or feeling. The virus had leeched the life out of everything, leaving only destruction and fire in its wake, apocalypse paled in comparison. The streets were void of people, void of any life, everything had been destroyed.

            He felt Kenta come up next to him and gasp at the desecration he that lay before him. Entire buildings had been brought to their knees, trees stripped of their leaves, streets ripped apart by sheer force. Their city was only a ghost of what they had known. And the people, Hirokazu didn't want to think of what had happened to the people. Had they escaped, fled; or had they simply been swallowed by the virus, never to be seen again? 

            He felt Kenta shudder but he couldn't remove his eyes from the fragments of city he could see through the sparse moonlight and illumination from sporadic fires around the rubble. Everything looked so unreal, like a dream or nightmare. Things like this simply didn't happen to normal people like he and Kenta. They just didn't happen, therefore he must be dreaming. 

            The thought soured in his mind. He wasn't dreaming he had watched the whole scene unfold. Dreams were never this real, never this frightening; he may have had a morbid imagination but he could never have expected something like this. A slight wave of wonder washed over him; he had lived to see the apocalypse. 

            Abruptly Kenta spoke, bringing him back from his thoughts to reality

            "Hiro, I'm scared." He moved closer to Hirokazu and held his arm with both hands. In response Hirokazu wrapped his arms around Kenta's shoulders and held him as tight and close as was possible. He was shaking noticeably and Hirokazu could feel his tears gradually seeping into the shoulder of his shirt.

            For the first time since it had appeared Hirokazu let his pride go and began to cry

            "I can't say that anything is going to be alright."  


End file.
